Just behind my ear
by TheSerialObsessive
Summary: A split second can last an eternity when you cannot be certain of your own senses. A little addition to the scene from Episode 52 of Season 1. A short very short and marginally sweet pre-Jyoushiro can be taken in any way you wish and could be viewed as completely irrelevant.


**Just behind my ear.**

**...People may postulate that I think way too much for my own good.**  
**Though I am compelled disagree with them to a point, on this occation, I may have let my mind run away with me... at my own cost.**

**We were running for our lives... or... at least... for our current physicality. Taichi-San and Yamato-San had both been captured, they had be foolish to try and save their digimon partners... not that I wouldn't have acted equally as irrational as them, were I in their position.**

**But for us, there was no option left except to run.**

**As we approached the gaping chasm; it became apparent to all of us that to cross the cap, we had to swing across the trapeze... this would be one of the many obvious traps and trials set out for us by such a harlequin-esque being as Piedmon.**

**First Tailmon launched herself across, taking Hikari along with her, then one by one, the other crossed until it was just myself, Jyou-san and Gomamon remaining.**

**"I... I can't jump that cap by myself..."**  
**"Of course not... and we wouldn't... explect you to..." Jyou-san and I both leaned in and scooped the digimon up from the ground. Our arms pressed hard into each other and Jyou-San raised his gaze up to meet mine, as if only just realising that I'd elected to help him. His eyes wide, you'd have thought he'd only just noticed I existed... that would be typical...**

**But we didn't have time for this, so with one solid heave, we threw Gomamon over to Tailmon's awaiting paws.**

**"Quick... grab onto the rail whist they're still swinging across..."**  
**Panicked, I took hold of the bar from Jyou-san's hand, but to no avail... each time I tried to let it take my weight, it slipped from my hand... there was no way I could make it across with no grip...**

**It was always an intriguing theory to me... that during a moment of blind fear, such as this... time seems to pass by at less than half it's normal speed.**  
**If it hadn't... I wouldn't have noticed what I had serious thought had occured whilst I mounted the first trapeze.**

**"Oh... no good... if you can't grip the bar... you'll have to sit on it... here..." Not waiting for my response, Jyou-san reached around beneath my arms and lifted me up off the ground. Not quite strong enough to lift me fully, he used his shoulders and chin to lever me up so that I could slip my feet over the bar. His face was pressed into the back of my head, he tilted to the side to help guide my right leg... but then...**

**It was light... gentle and barely lasted a second, but Jyou-san's face was angled along the left side of my head, his forehead pressed into the longer of my hair. His chin tilted upwards at the top of my neck.**  
**And I could have swore... somewhere... just behind my ear...  
**  
**His lips...**  
**  
Just a moment, puckered a fraction and just short of my hairline, I'm almost certain...  
**  
**Did... wait... did Jyou-san just kiss me?**  
**  
...Illogical... improbable... irrational, inconceivable and in a situation like this... beyond insane!**

**From this point I lost all capability for rational thought, my breath caught in my throat and I subconsciously pressed the side of my head into the other boy. He seemed to break back out of a trance, but didn't pull away before nervously whispering into my ear.**

**"...God speed, Koushiro-kun..." With that, he pulled back, raising his head to see if Gomamon was finally across and safe.**

**Could I cross this precipice... I was feeling so numb... what he said... what he did! Did he do that...? Was I beginning to hallucinate? One singular sense is ****not enough to believe in a crisis... But it felt so real... I was positively mind-boggled... and my eyes were stinging... what was I going to...**

**He's here...**

**Jyou-San gave me the strongest push he could before he dissapeared from my dampened vision, buried under the white of Piedmon's magic handkerchief.**

**I swung towards Tailmon, but it was too late for me... I couldn't tear my gaze from Jyou... his voice had been fractured at the end... was he close to tears too? Why hadn't he gone first... as clumsy as he may be... his longer legs and arms would have made it easier for Tailmon to catch him... I was terrible at all these physical activities... I should have insisted he go first... He could have grabbed and been across in a breeze... at least one of us would have made it...**

**But if he had gone first... then he wouldn't have... just behind my ear... he couldn't have...**

**What am I thinking?**

**Of course he didn't!**

**Impossible... **

**Ridiculous...**

**A completely unfounded missjudgement of my kinestetic senses...**

**But so soft... and slightly chapped... well we have been travelling a long way...**

**And_ why_ am I making such a big thing about this? What is he did? Does it matter now?!**

**I can't afford this...**

**I have to...**

**I must...**

**I had to... **

**I couldn't... **

**I called out to him...**

**I knew he was caught...**

**And in that moment...**

**So was I.**

_...I heard Tentomon's voice call out to me..._

_...I felt at ease for a moment... maybe... maybe he really had kissed me..._

_...Either way... it would be nice to believe..._

_...Piedmon can put us on a link together... I wouldn't mind... a keychain's life is easy..._

_...Would I have to be in mortal danger every time I want to feel this way...?_

**(A.N. I know it's just a little bit of pointless cuteness... but I only realized after writing this that in the scene, the trapeze was far too high above Jyou's head for him to be able to reach the back of Koushiro's head... if he were to try to kiss any part of Koushiro, the only spot he'd be able to reach is his derriere... and despite my fondness for this pair... I think that would be a touch too OOC and completely out of place within the scene.)**


End file.
